Absorption refrigeration and heating systems are well established in the art. A refrigerant-absorbent solution is normally circulated to an evaporator where the refrigerant is vaporized leaving a residual absorbent enriched solution. The refrigerant vapors are then transferred throughout the remainder of the process where they are condensed and thereafter again evaporated to effect heat transfer in designated areas. The absorbent enriched solution and refrigerant are thereafter recombined in an absorber where refrigerant vapor is absorbed by the absorbent solution to reconstitute the solution to its preseparation concentration. The reconstituted solution is then recycled to the evaporator separator for continued operation.
Such absorption heat transfer systems have heretofore been improved without making changes to the general concept of same. Improvements, instead, have generally been made to the refrigerant-absorbent system by particular selection of the components that make up the solution and by the addition of one or more additional components to improve the separability of the refrigerant from the solution. Additionally, other improvements have been made to the standard equipment and/or particular utilization of same to effect an efficiency improvement for the conventional absorption heat transfer process. In all of these prior systems, however, the general separative techniques for segregating the refrigerant from the normal refrigerant-absorbent solution has been evaporation which, of course, requires an input of substantial heat energy to effect the separation.
The present invention represents a deviation from the conventional absorption system, primarily in the technique for separating the refrigerant from the refrigerant-absorption solution. Such change involves technology that requires substantially less energy input to effect the separation. Substantial economy and improvement is thus recognized in operation of the present absorption heat transfer system without any appreciable adverse effects thereto.